


That Eye You Can't Escape

by reafterthought



Category: Darker Than Black
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, drabblechap, ffn challenge: becoming the tamer king challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-23
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:22:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26662135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reafterthought/pseuds/reafterthought
Summary: [Alt-S1.5, drabble collection] It was impossible to get away from the eye of the Syndicate, and Hei had just been chasing a wild dream.
Kudos: 6
Collections: The DFC Challenge Collection





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Becoming the Tamer King Challenge on the RANDOM Forum, Data Forest Task. The task is a drabble collection centred around a single character or a pair. I'm going with Hei on this one, in my own little AT between the two seasons (I started planning this before watching season 1.5). The other little catch is that the starter we have has an additional restriction; in my case, it's a tense or POV change between drabbles. This one is third person past tense. The next is third person present etc.

He'd tried to cut them out, but that had turned out to be impossible. They'd managed it for a while, but then Mao had appeared out of the blue and Yin had been snatched away beneath his gaze.

The Syndicate had too strong a hold to be able to sever with a simple pair of scissors. If they couldn't use his blindness, they'd use their superior sight and power. They'd use the weakness he still had: the illusions he'd grown, and the heart he'd uncovered. It was a web with too many threads, too many layers.

Did he have to resign himself to a life as a mindless agent – sneaking about, stealing killing and whatever else was needed – after all?


	2. Chapter 2

He can’t run anymore. They have Yin; they have that power over his head and he’ll do what they say because no amount of Contractor logic can convince him to cut his losses and let her go.

It just proves again he’s not a proper Contractor – he’ll never be one. It reminds him of when his sister was still alive, when he’d joined the Syndicate and lied, stolen and killed just to stay with her, just to keep loving her – and he’s doing the same with Yin, now. Doing anything, _everything_ , it took to keep the illusion of her wellbeing…because he’ll probably never know the truth.


	3. Chapter 3

Yin had been a fated bad move on the part of the Syndicate. But it had also been their way of killing several birds with one stone.

I don’t know what it was you did, but you managed to keep their attention in a way most who are a part of the Syndicate cannot. That interested me; even before I’d met you, I was curious about what was so special. There was quite a bit of gossip going on. I’d heard quite a bit.

Even the walls talked, and I’d a lot of time to listen to the walls. It’s a good way of learning things, even in a place where everything’s hushed up because whispers spread as far as shouts in these places.

You went from being a whisper to a shout, and then back to a whisper again.


	4. Chapter 4

There sure are a lot of people in the Syndicate who are curious about you. The Black Reaper was a name that preceded you, and we found out how many were still a part of the Syndicate in the end, didn’t we? And who knows how many people are still hiding their affiliations, still keeping an eye on you, spreading the word.

And after spending so long with you, I still don’t understand. Sure, you’re strange for a Contractor. But there are plenty of normal humans in the Syndicate who are interesting in their own ways too.

Sometimes, I wonder if you’re just a specimen they’re watching grow inside their lab.

Because you don’t really think you’re free, do you?


	5. Chapter 5

I’d never thought I’d see a Contractor fall in love. Contractors had cast away their emotions in their birth and now only the basic instincts of survival and higher orders of logic remained. Contractors didn’t feel pity either – so when I saw you, and the way you interacted with your Doll, I knew it was either one of the two.

And you _would_ wind up with the one Doll that still retained her free will and thought: the Doll capable of feeling such feelings as well – the doll capable of shedding tears with a Contractor capable of wiping them away…

It was after that things started going downhill, wasn’t it?


	6. Chapter 6

You’re in a fix now. I guess we both are, because all the eyes staring at you are staring at me too. But they’ll cut off your head if they run out of ways to keep a leash on you.

And I don’t know whether to call you lucky or unlucky, considering you’re still here after all the trouble you’ve caused. Through, granted, you didn’t manage to get far in most cases. Like Havoc, and Amber. Though I’m impressed you and Yin got so far… though I’m not convinced it was entirely on your own merit.

They just turned a blind eye, for whatever reason.


	7. Chapter 7

The Syndicate had already started moving towards them when Mao dropped back into their lives. Hei had been somewhat surprised; he’d thought the Syndicate would have disposed of the conscience when they disconnected him from his body – but they hadn’t. As if they’d wanted to leave Hei with Mao once they stole Yin. Leave him with a generous consolation prize to show their benevolence.

Or it was the ultimate show of power: the proof that their pawns were many and infiltrated too deeply into the world. All of them were pawns: unwilling pawns ignorant until the end. Them meeting again was just another move on the chessboard.


	8. Chapter 8

They're still living here with him. Living together for a long time before Japan, in Japan, and now their time in Russia. They're not quite friends - contractor's don't have friends, and that, is at least one trait of the normal contractor that Hei conforms to. You can't call it's an acquired trait - he was never one to call people friends.

If he had called people friends, Mao would not be the only one left. Amber was dead. Huang was dead. Yin was captive out of sight and all he had was the Syndicate's word that she was safe. If they killed her afterwards, he'd never know. She's as good as gone, but he can't let go.

But Mao is beside him still. For now. Until the Syndicate makes another move.


	9. Chapter 9

He hadn't liked or disliked Mao when they first met, nor had there been much fleeting interest. He couldn't say there hasn't been none, because all humans had some fleeting interest in the surroundings.

He hadn't thought though that Mao would stay in his life so long. They did make a good pair, power wise - Mao's power lending to infiltration and reconnaissance and Hei's to the final, decisive blow - but there were also other possibilities, other combinations... Except another might have been less likely to work with his eccentricities.

He hadn't thought Yin would stay with him so long either. All that people like Huang and Amber would give their lives for him, believe in him...


	10. Chapter 10

I can see despair creeping into your eyes. I can see the charges that usually dance around you quieten. You always thought you had a tight grip on your emotions but you were wrong. You always thought that, if you locked yourself tightly enough away, nothing would be able to touch you.

That wasn’t true, in the end. Even electricity didn’t make the perfect shield. It never would have, and you knew that yourself when you used it to defibrillate yourself. You were too clever, but you tried to ignore how emotions didn’t line up with reasoning like Contractors and you’re not really one.

It’s a fatal flaw of yours, and you knew it but you did it anyway. And now you’re out of practice and you’re sinking deeper and deeper into despair.


	11. Chapter 11

Yin was waiting for him.

Water was remarkably still, without her, but recently, in his dreams, he’d started seeing its ripples again. It might mean nothing: it wasn’t fresh and blue but murky grey. It rippled, nonetheless.

And it sparked something, in him. He couldn’t hide out forever. He couldn’t wait forever. He couldn’t avert his eyes forever: from Yin, from himself, from the sacrifices that had been made from him.

Why was he even worth all that, he wondered? He wasn’t a Contractor born under a star, but one created and who could theoretically create more. If there was order in the Syndicate, his very existence threatened it. And now that they hunted him, hunted Yin, he had no reason to play by their rules anymore.

Yin was waiting for him, and he’d kept her waiting long enough, hadn’t he.


	12. Chapter 12

So you’ll fight back, after all? You’ll go looking for your princess even though you have no idea where to even start? You’ll play the part of a Contractor again even though you know you’re only a fake, a replacement, a cog that doesn’t fit in to the works.

No. That look on your face says elsewise. There’s conviction, but there’s something else there. Something human. That sort of stubbornness they sometimes get when they think they can change the world with their frail strength.

But you’re not so frail, are you? And you’ve got a Contractor by your side and when you get your Doll back as well, what then? More than a team, we’ll be a triad again and maybe this time we’ll prove we’re above and beyond every Syndicate pair.

But Hei, you’re not looking at me, are you? Just Yin, even if you wouldn’t be here if not for me.


	13. Chapter 13

He doesn’t know where to start, but conviction was a good place to do so. Taking stock came after that, and it was remarkable how the time had flowed by, how he’d let it flow by…

Yin was gone, but she wasn’t out of reach. He wouldn’t let her remain out of reach. And Mao… Mao had come back, for whatever reason, had saved him, hidden him from the Syndicate, said not one word of reproach for Huang’s death, and stood by him still.

Mao, who was a Contractor in the genuine sense, who wasn’t human in appearance or soul, who’d defied logic and come back for him – for them – anyway, who was defying the Syndicate for nothing to be gained in return…

There had to be something he was gaining in return.


	14. Chapter 14

Contractors are suspicious folk, but you’ve learnt at our heel and are as suspicious, now, as the best of them. Strong Hei. Foolish Hei. But that was something of your humanity that could have strengthened you.

But it does. Strengthen you, I mean. Strengthens you despite how you ignore and repulse it. And even we Contractors can’t deny it, because we’re human underneath it all. And humans are social creatures.

And you, Hei, did most poorly in being alone. Look at you now, pining after Yin.

But perhaps “most” is relative, because you’ve also attracted quite a following. Amber. Huang. Yin.

And me as well.


	15. Chapter 15

Mao isn’t going anywhere.

Hei doesn’t know why, but he wasn’t. He’d stuck fast. Poked and prodded. Come to him when he’d had nothing but rainclouds overhead and stayed even when they’d made way for a crickety roof instead.

Mao stuck fast no matter Hei’s intentions, actions or moods.

And yet… Mao was a constant, purposefuly and not, reminder of Yin. Yin who Hei had lost. Yin who Hei hadn’t found – for a time, hadn’t tried to find.

Mao had found him, though. Not Yin. Just him.

And he gives non-answers whenever Hei asks why.

But maybe that’s the answer in itself. Why Amber decided to sacrifice herself. Why Huang did the same. Why Bai passed her power to him, intentionally or not. Why Hei took up her mantle, then left it to follow other dreams instead.

Contractors don’t dream. Contractors work in pairs with Dolls but Dolls are dispensable.

Hei, though, is not a Contractor. Not in that sense, anyway. He needs Yin. He won’t have any other Doll. And Mao…

Mao isn’t going anywhere.


	16. Chapter 16

I’m not the one you need to pay attention to.

You know that, don’t you. But I suppose I’ve confused you more than the Syndicate. At least you know where you stand with them. A traitor with dangerous powers and an even more dangerous drive.

The Syndicate were foolish. Even if they were trying to make the best out of a bad situation.

But the Syndicate is also far more and far stronger than you, than us.

You know this. I know this. Even Yin knows this, wherever and however she is. Their eyes will be on her, and their eyes are on you as well. Don’t think we’ve tucked ourselves neatly enough away to avoid that.

I know you’ve been thinking it, too. I could be a traitor, a pair of eyes for the Syndicate. Or it could be anyone around you. Anything. Even the water’s not safe anymore. Even the spark of energy between your cells isn’t safe anymore.

But that doesn’t matter to you. That part hasn’t changed all that much for you.

You’re going to get Yin back now, aren’t you?


	17. Chapter 17

There were always too many eyes on him, even when he was missing a pair.

Yin had always watched him through the water. Then there was Mao and Huang, practically his minders. The memory of Bai. Kirihara and others from the Public Security Bureau. Amber and the other renegades from Evening Primrose. And then, the Syndicate.

And now, no Yin. And the Syndicate was still there, hovering out of reach. And Mao was still there, almost too close to touch. And even if Huang wasn’t, Amber wasn’t, Bai wasn’t… Their spirits, their sacrifices, still hung over him.

They weren’t ever going to leave. And Yin – the absence something in his heart screamed at him to fill – wasn’t ever going to leave either. If he abandoned her, he’d drown in every watery reflection he passed.

He was going to be watched, regardless.

Then, regardless, he was going to find Yin.


End file.
